In this volume selected papers delivered at the special session on "Spectral and scattering theory" are published. This session was organized by A. G. Ramm at the first international congress ofISAAC (International Society for Analysis, Applications and Computing) which was held at the University of Delaware, June 3-7, 1997. The papers in this volume deal with a wide va riety of problems including some nonlinear problems (Schechter, Trenogin), control theory (Shubov), fundamental problems of physics (Kitada), spectral and scattering theory in waveg uides and shallow ocean (Ramm and Makrakis),...